Language Instruction: Checklist for a Proficiency-oriented Classroom

Did you know that less than 1 percent of Americans are proficient in a language that they studied at school, according The Atlantic? In 2016, there were 110 million users on Duolingo, a top online language platform. 

People want to learn new languages. There are now more native Spanish speakers in the United States than in Spain, creating a clear advantage to being bilingual.

As people who specialize in languages instruction, we appreciate the value and joy in the study of language for its own sake, too. We know that it gives our students a greater knowledge and awareness of their own language. We also understand that it teaches them about their own culture and cultures other than their own.

The study of language fulfills requirements for entering college and also prepares students for rigorous study. We know that it’s the foundation for further study leading to that ultimate cultural and linguistic proficiency that we strive for in all of our students and programs. The ACTFL Communication standard has earned its rightful place in the center of the ACTFL standards. It is essential to understand how vital this focus is to teach languages.

Many countries, such as Sweden, offer long sequences of language study in their schools, creating bilingual speakers. Many students in the U.S. are not required to take more than a few years of a language. Maximizing the time we have to instruct students communicative skills in a language and engage them enough to want to continue their studies in a short period of time is our challenge.

Language Instruction: The Checklist

This checklist serves as a framework to teach languages in a proficiency-oriented classroom. 

The target language is the vehicle for language instruction. 

We all know how important comprehensible input is. Students are going to be able to acquire language naturally if we make it understandable. Ensuring we teach languages in the target language with comprehensible input for at least 90% of the time at all levels is key.

For example, we might do the calendar every day in our target language in our class. This simple tool can build an understanding of the days, months, numbers up to 31, weather, seasons, in that authentic context.

Class routines, classroom needs and language for classroom survival are other simple examples to deliver instruction at all levels in the target language.  

Can I get a drink of water? for example. Push in your chairs, or Open your book. Those are easy ways to teach language for real-world purposes at the very beginning of language study to provide comprehensible input.

Meaningful, authentic contexts delivered via comprehensible input work. However, a lot of from traditional language programs work, too. We know that learning patterns and being trained in specific techniques to learn vocabulary and grammar and exercises works to help our students become proficient in a new language. Essentially, to move into the Intermediate level sees learners transition from memorization to creation with language.

Consider language learning all of the traditional old school things we do, such as flash cards, verbs, text exercises or mnemonic devices. 

The majority of class time is spent doing activities that build communicative skills.